Analysis of the Climate Impact on Occupational Health and Safety Using Heat Stress Indexes

Guilherme Neto Ferrari (), Guilherme Custódio dos Santos, Paulo Cesar Ossani, Gislaine Camila Lapasini Leal and Edwin Vladimir Cardoza Galdamez
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Guilherme Neto Ferrari: Computer Science Postgraduate Program, Informatics Department, State University of Maringá, Av. Colombo, 5790, Bloco C56, Zona 7, Maringá 87020-900, Paraná, Brazil
Guilherme Custódio dos Santos: Production Engineering Department, State University of Maringá, Av. Colombo, 5790, Bloco 19/20, Zona 7, Maringá 87020-900, Paraná, Brazil
Paulo Cesar Ossani: Statistics Department, State University of Maringá, Av. Colombo, 5790, Bloco E90, Zona 7, Maringá 87020-900, Paraná, Brazil
Gislaine Camila Lapasini Leal: Computer Science Postgraduate Program, Informatics Department, State University of Maringá, Av. Colombo, 5790, Bloco C56, Zona 7, Maringá 87020-900, Paraná, Brazil
Edwin Vladimir Cardoza Galdamez: Production Engineering Postgraduate Program, Production Engineering Department, State University of Maringá, Av. Colombo, 5790, Bloco 19/20, Zona 7, Maringá 87020-900, Paraná, Brazil

IJERPH, 2025, vol. 22, issue 1, 1-18

Abstract: Workers may be exposed to conditions that put their physical and mental integrity at risk, from workplace settings to climate characteristics. Heat stress is a harmful health condition caused by exceeding the human body’s tolerance limits, leading to illness and increasing the chance of work accidents. Heat stress indexes, such as the Humidex and the Heat Index (HI), are used to measure these impacts. These indexes are significant as they provide a quantitative measure of the heat stress experienced by workers, taking into account both environmental and individual factors. Objective: This study aims to compare multiple heat stress indexes, relating them to historical Brazilian occupational accident data. Methods: We selected eight indexes and applied multiple correspondence analysis to each one, a statistical method that generates graphs to visualize the association between variables in a database. Results: The analysis and comparison of the graphs indicated that seven of the eight indexes presented similar behavior. It was also possible to relate ranges of index values with specific characteristics of the accidents. Conclusions: The technique allowed us to analyze the relationship between climate and work accidents and showed that the choice of the heat stress index does not significantly alter the results for most indexes studied.

Keywords: occupational health and safety; heat stress; heat stress index; multiple correspondence analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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